Twisted Sister – Live At Wacken: The Reunion

By Jason Wellwood

What this really amounts to is a repackaging of a DVD/CD combo that was originally released in 2005. Why the repackaging? Well, originally this was released as a double-sided DVD/CD combo disc which was fraught with problems. Some DVD players wouldn’t recognize them, sometimes people forgot that part of it was a DVD and returned the disc when it wouldn’t play in their CD player…essentially the people buying Twisted Sister DVD’s weren’t ready for the technology. For the record, I still have mine and I’ve remembered to turn it over when it won’t play in my CD player.

Live At Wacken: The Reunion is interesting because there is no straight through live show. You cannot watch the band beginning to end through their set at Wacken. Interspersing the live at Wacken footage with interview footage and rare clips of the band performing at other times however, gives an intriguing juxtaposition. It’s amazing to watch Mark Mendozza talk about how much he hated Dee in one clip, then move to a live shot of them tearing up the stage at Wacken Open Air. Whether the band all completely buried the hatchet or not is debatable but on stage they seem to be at their peak. This, by the way, is much better than the ‘Behind The Music’ schlockumentary. Yes, the band all seem a little thicker (except Dee who hasn’t aged) around the middle and, yes the make-up looks even more horrible now (actually Eddie looks better but, is Jay Jay wearing a wig or is that just a REALLY bad mullet?!) but the band still has that fire. The classics are pulled out, the hits, and yes, the fire definitely still burns.

Being one of my favourite bands, I’m sad to say I never saw Twisted Sister at their peak, but I did see Dee Snider play a tiny little club in Toronto where every time he pumped his fist in the air, he put a hole in the ceiling. That was cool, but Live at Wacken is also really cool. My complaints about this disc are few (I would REALLY like a straight through version of the show) but my praise is high. This is a great watch for fans new and old and the accompanying live CD has some great rare live 80’s tracks as well.